The present invention relates to a detection device, a learning device, a detection method, a learning method, an information storage device, and the like.
A narrow band imaging (NBI) technique has been known that applies narrow-band illumination light that is easily absorbed by hemoglobin in blood to tissue to highlight the capillaries and the like on the surface of the mucous membrane (see JP-A-2011-224038). The narrow band imaging technique has been expected to be an alternative to a dye-spraying observation technique that is widely used to perform detailed diagnosis on the gullet or observe the pit pattern (gland duct structure) of the large intestine, and contribute to an improvement in the examination efficiency through a reduction in the examination time or the need to perform biopsy.
A technique has been proposed that focuses on the fact that the nerves that surround the target internal organ are situated in the fat layer, and extracts the fat situated around the nerves in order to visualize the nerves to prevent a situation in which the nerves that surround the target internal organ are damaged.
JP-A-2002-342758 discloses a technique that utilizes a learning process as a technique for recognizing or extracting a specific area from an image. Specifically, the extraction target area is learned, and a specific area is extracted from the input image using a parameter obtained by learning.
When acquiring an identical feature as an image, a difference in illumination state, a difference in intensity, or the like may occur, and the feature may show different characteristics depending on the distance from the imaging device to the object. If the feature quantities corresponding to different characteristics are classified into an identical category, the learning data shows a large variation in feature quantity within an identical category. As a result, the determination accuracy (the accuracy of the learning results) and the detection accuracy may deteriorate. It may be possible to implement stable detection by acquiring distance information together with an image, and performing a detection process. JP-A-2002-342758 discloses a robot visual recognition system that utilizes an image and distance information. The system disclosed in JP-A-2002-342758 normalizes the acquired image using the distance, and performs a learning process and a recognition process. The system disclosed in JP-A-2002-342758 corrects the size or the pattern fineness that differs depending on the distance using the distance information.